The Furies

The Furies, also called the Erinyes, were a trio of ancient sisters who served as the punishers of those who broke their oaths to the gods. They were not Titanides, goddesses, humans, or shades but an independent species, formed at the beginning of time from the madness and rage of a war waged between the Primordials, the ageless creators of Greece. The three sisters were Alecto the Queen, Megaera, and Tisiphone. Tasked to punish the wicked and the treacherous, they became the relentless hunters of Kratos after he broke his blood oath with Ares.

Origin and purpose#

The Furies were formed at the beginning of time from the madness and rage of a war waged between the Primordials, the ageless creators of Greece. They were tasked to punish the wicked and the treacherous, and they pursued oath breakers without rest, believing that death was too kind a punishment for any blood traitor. As an independent species, they stood apart from goddesses, Titanides, humans, and shades, yet they were older than the Earth itself and counted among the immortals, able to be slain only by a god or a god's weapon.

The first traitor they punished was the Hecatonchires Aegaeon. When the hundred-armed giant pledged a blood oath to Zeus only to betray him, the Furies hunted him down and tortured him to insanity. Rather than grant him death, they petrified his body and twisted it into a prison where all future traitors would be held forever, the place that came to be known as the Prison of the Damned.

Corruption by Ares#

For a time the Furies were fair in their judgement and punishment, merciless yet just, condemning only those who truly deserved it. Everything changed when they allied with Ares, who convinced them to help him conspire against Olympus. From that day the crime itself ceased to matter to them, only that the punishment be severe.

Alecto, the Fury Queen, mated with Ares in the hope of conceiving the prophesied Marked Warrior who would help bring down Olympus. Their child, Orkos, was deemed weak by Ares and disowned. The Furies took pity on him and made him a Fury with the task of keeping the oaths of those who pledged themselves to the gods. Years later the sisters devised the three blood tasks that sealed Kratos's oath to Ares: to kill his enemies, to kill innocents, and to kill his own family.

The hunt for Kratos#

When Kratos renounced his servitude after being tricked into slaying his wife and daughter, the Furies shrouded his mind and memories and set upon him. Orkos, having learned of the injustice through the Oracle Aletheia, secretly turned against his mothers and aided the Spartan. In retaliation the Furies blinded Aletheia and imprisoned Orkos within Aegaeon.

The hunt carried Kratos to Delos in search of the Statue of Apollo, where Alecto attacked from the sea in her monstrous form while Megaera and Tisiphone trapped him in an illusion of Sparta. Kratos tore the arm from Megaera and shattered an illusory Tisiphone before Alecto subdued him, but Orkos rescued him. The Furies later captured Kratos once more and dragged him to be tortured within the Prison of the Damned.

Deaths and Kratos's freedom#

Roused from his torment by a one-armed Megaera, Kratos broke free of his chains and pursued the sisters through the Prison of the Damned. He killed Megaera by driving his Blades of Chaos into her chest as they fell, then entered Alecto's Chamber to face the last two. After seizing the Eyes of Truth, which alone could pierce their illusions, he saw through Tisiphone's spells and the whirlpool conjured around Alecto's monstrous form. He carved open Alecto's skull, killed Tisiphone's summoned creature Daimon, and slew both sisters, ending the Furies' judgement.

Orkos then revealed that his mothers had remade him the oath keeper before their deaths, binding Kratos anew. At Orkos's own request, Kratos granted him a mercy killing, severing the bond at last. With his freedom came the return of his memories of his slain wife and child, which would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Powers#

Though not deities, the Furies wielded great power. They were immortal and older than the Earth, possessed superhuman strength, speed, durability, and stamina, and could heal from wounds that would kill a mortal, though they could not regrow lost limbs or recover from fatal injuries. All three could create illusions that only the Eyes of Truth could break, and could take the forms of others. Each sister favored a particular gift: Alecto could transform into a colossal sea monster and ensnare victims in black goo, Tisiphone could warp reality and summon the creature Daimon, and Megaera could secrete parasites that mutated her victims into monsters and could cling to walls with her spider limbs.